McMINNVILLE, Ore. – Hitting 10 of 14 shots from the field, Dempsey Roggenbuck keyed a hard-fought come-from-behind 85-77 win over the Puget Sound Loggers in Northwest Conference men's basketball action Saturday night at Ted Wilson Gymnasium.
 
Roggenbuck totaled 30 points in 27 minutes of action, helping Linfield surge from 16 points down in the first half. The Wildcats (11-2, 4-0 NWC) won their fourth straight contest. Puget Sound (5-7, 1-2 NWC) lost for the third time in four outings.

"I thought UPS played fantastic and did a great job tonight," said Linfield coach Shanan Rosenberg. "We were fortunate to defend well enough and finish rim attacks consistently in the second half to get the win."
  
'Cat stats
The Wildcats began the game by missing their first five three-point attempts and ended the night 4 of 16 from outside the arc. Despite their long-range difficulities, the 'Cats shot 56 percent from the floor for the game.
 
Roggenbuck reached the 30-point plateau for the second straight game. With most of his shot attempts on drives through the paint, the Linfield star converted 9 of 12 from the free throw line.
 
Will Burghardt hit 6 of 7 from the field, totaling 15 points to go with three assists. Liam O'Reilly had eight points, six rebounds, four steals and two blocked shots.
 
Linfield outscored Puget Sound 48-30 in the second half, hitting 17 fo 27 shots after intermission.
 
Loggers ledger
Hansen led Puget Sound with 20 points, nine rebounds and two assists. Chaikin made five threes on his way to 15 points and four rebounds. Wohrer, who came into the game averaging a conference-best 21.8 points per game, was limited to 12 points in 3 of 13 shooting.
 
How it played out
The Loggers bolted to a 10-point advantage in the game's first 6½ minutes, building an 18-8 cushion. When Dempsey Roggenbuck was sent to the bench with two early fouls, the Loggers stretched their lead to 16 points after Stellan Roberts converted a rare four-point play at the 9:17 mark.
 
Linfield closed the half on a 7-0 run, capped by a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Will Burghart.
 
Wildcats reserve Marcus Lord helped narrow the margin, hitting his first three field goal tries. Roggenbuck paced Linfield with eight first-half points while Lord dropped in seven.
 
Puget Sound hit eight three-pointers on 14 first-half attempts, compared with a 2 for 10 effort by the Wildcats in the opening 20 minutes. The Loggers led 47-37 at  intermission behind Roberts, Cal Hansen and Gabriel Chaikin, all with nine points.
 
As action resumed, the Loggers went 3½ minutes without netting a single point, enabling Linfield to pocket the first 11 points of the half and snip the margin to one, 49-48.  
 
Max Lommen's putback bucket with 14:45 remaining gave Linfield its first lead, 54-53, and O'Reilly followed with a turnaround jumper in the paint to give the Wildcats some breathing room.
 
Roggenbuck swished a three with 5:45 left, and then followed with a pair of free throws on the next possession to give the 'Cats their largest lead of the night, 74-68.
 
The Loggers eventually tied the game at 75 on Roberts' two free throws with 3:25 left, but Tanner Autencio answered with two free throws and Roggenbuck converted back-to-back circus lay-ins to push the 'Cats back in front for good, 81-75.

Rosenberg's remarks
"Dempsey once again showed why he is an all-conference player. 
 
"What a great stretch Will had in the second half to spark our run. Our whole team defended better. 
 
"Marcus Lord, Tanner Autencio, Negasi Hart, Aaron Baune and Max Lommen all gave us high-caliber minutes. I was proud of them. 
  
"With classes starting and New Year's this past  week, it'll be nice to settle in and prepare for the Whits (Whitman and Whitworth) this coming week." 

Next
Linfield's homestand continues Friday and Saturday with a pair of key NWC matchups against NWC title contending teams. Friday, the Wildcats host defending NWC champion Whitman starting at 8 p.m. Saturday, the 'Cats battle Whitworth at Ted Wilson Gym starting at 6 p.m. Both Whitman and Whitworth are ranked among the Top 10 in the D3football.com poll.